The Hero of the Leaf
by Kirigiya The Wanderer
Summary: A young boy has adventure and destiny thrust upon him as he struggles to combat evil and perhaps even fulfill a prophecy centuries old. A celebration of Tolkien and Zelda. Extremely AU. No parings as of now.


**Hello guys! I know, why aren't I updating Rise of a God? My muse has been pretty quiet on that as of late, and this just randomly came to me. This is heavily inspired by the works of Tolkien and the Zelda franchise. Please leave a review with your opinion of this story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, blah blah. On with the story!**

_This is but a legend of which the people speak..._

_ Long ago, within the Elemental Nations, there existed many warring clans. For many centuries they fought each other. Many were slaughtered. Entire clans went extinct. The two most powerful clans, the Senju and the Uchiha, were constantly trying to outmatch the other._

_ But there were some who advocated peace. Two sons of both the Uchiha and Senju clans banded together and, in secret, made plans of peace. Unfortunately, this was not to last..._

_ The sons, Madara and Hashirama, were split apart by their feuding families. While Hashirama still wished for peace, Madara was convinced it could not be obtained. The two fought many times, but their power was always equal. _

_ It wasn't until Madara's brother, Izuna, died that the war began to take a dark turn. Madara, enraged and maddened by the loss of his favorite brother, set about systematically attacking and destroying every clan that dared stand in his way. _

_ One by one, the clans fell to his power. His power was so great that he could defeat entire clans single-handedly. He used forbidden powers to summon otherworldly monsters that would do his bidding without question. There was only one capable of matching his power; On the cusp of defeat, Hashirama marched out of the gloom._

_ The ensuing battle changed the entire landscape. Hashirama, for all his power, could not defeat Madara. So Hashirama, drawing his legendary blade, Vindicator, sealed Madara within the blade. He left it buried in the earth, and went on to found the Village Hidden in the Leaves, stabilizing the region and granting it a long-lasting peace._

_ Madara's monsters, stripped of his control, escaped into the wild, where they have been terrorizing travelers and village-folk alike ever since. Mercenary guilds arose to combat these creatures, offering their services for money. The world knew war rarely after Madara's defeat, but guilds were often hired as bodyguards, or even soldiers when times of strife arose._

_ Madara has been trying to escape his prison ever since he was incarcerated, and it is said that one day, he will succeed. One dark day, he will return to exact his vengence on Hashirama's descendants and throw the world once more into chaos. _

"Naruto! Naruto, get up already!"

A blonde boy blearily opened his eyes and sat up from his mat on the floor. His deep blue eyes sleepily looked towards the source of the noise. There, at the entrance to his tent, was a pretty girl with pink hair and piercing green eyes.

"Sakura, why can't you let me sleep?" he whined.

Sakura scoffed. "You sleep enough as it is. I swear, I honestly don't know how you keep your sword skills up when you're asleep for most of the day,"

"Your exaggerating," Naruto said with a smile. "OK, so I sleep a lot, I get it!" he said, squirming under Sakura's glare.

"As much as I love beating you out of bed, there is another reason why I came here," Sakura said, looking around Naruto's tent.

It was empty, save for his sleeping mat, a small wooden table in the corner, and a sword in an earthy brown sheathe was leaned against the wall of the tent.

"Well, what is it?" Naruto questioned, getting out of bed and putting on a white shirt with the Uzumaki swirl, his clan's emblem, on the back.

"Kakashi-sama wishes to see you," Sakura answered him, grinning widely.

Naruto froze. Kakashi was the leader of their mercenary group, White Fang, and he had practically raised Naruto since his father died eleven years previously. He never got him out of bed like this, unless...

"Did you tell him about that goblin camp the other day?" Naruto asked, pointing an accusatory finger at his female friend.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," she giggled, leaving the tent.

"Sakura!" Naruto sighed. He'd just have to visit Kakashi and ask him what it was all about, and hope for all he was worth that Sakura hadn't told him about his screw up. He'd never live it down.

After checking his attire -orange tunic with a white undershirt and the Uzumaki crest on the back, dark leggings and traveling boots- Naruto strapped his sword to his back before leaving his tent. The White Fangs were currently camped in a forest clearing near the Land of Fire's border. They had been working with the Leaf Village, their best clients, recently and usually didn't move on for a few weeks at least.

Their tents were arranged in a circle, with Kakashi's tent being in the center of the encampent. Naruto strode towards it, knowing Kakashi was probably doing paperwork at the moment. He waved politely to people as he passed them.

"Hey, Naruto! Good to see you're finally awake!" a slightly chubby boy with brown hair tucked under a green cap said, walking up to him with a dark-haired boy in a spiky ponytail on the top of his head. Naruto always said it looked like a pineapple, much to the kid's displeasure.

"Hey Chouji, Shikamaru," Naruto said with a grin. These two guys had been friends with Naruto since they were toddlers. "Look, I don't have much time to talk, Kakashi wants to see me for something."

"Is it about the goblin incident?" Shikamaru asked with a bored tone.

"I told you not to tell anyone!" Naruto yelled comically, blushing slightly.

"We didn't Naruto, don't worry," Chouji reassured him. "Hey, we should go hang out in the forest later, alright?"

"Sure thing," Naruto replied, grin back in place.

He continued towards Kakashi's tent, unsurprised to hear a quill scratching on parchment from inside the tent.

"Hey, Kakashi," Naruto greeted, raising the tent flap and entering.

Kakashi was a man in his mid-twenties, agile and toned from years of being a mercenary. He wore a mask over his face and covering one of his eyes, leaving only one dark eye visible. His hair was gray, and stuck almost straight up. He always joked that gravity had no hold on him, to which Naruto always laughed. He'd been telling Naruto that joke since before Naruto could walk.

Kakashi looked up when Naruto entered, visible eye closed in one of his patented eye-smiles.

"Naruto, nice to see you've joined the land of the living."

"I don't sleep that much! Really!"

"Sure you do."

"Okay, so maybe I sleep a _bit_ more than other people."

"A bit?" Kakashi asked, amusement in his voice.

"Fine! I sleep all the time! Happy?" Naruto said with an air of defeat.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't," Kakashi answered, but then his voice turned serious. "Now for the reason I've called you here,"

Naruto stood rigidly. _'Please don't ask about the goblin camp, please don't ask about the goblin camp.'_

"So what's this I'm hearing about a goblin camp?" he asked, eye-smiling again.

"It-It was nothing!" Naruto said, frantically waving his arms in a dismissive manner. "Nothing happened at all. Hehe..."

"So... A goblin didn't pull your pants down and kick you into a pile of mud?"

"Sakura was hurt! I was distracted while checking on her! I could have taken him, he just got the jump on me!"

The sound of Kakashi's laughter rang throughout the tent as Naruto made excuses.

"Naruto, you're a mercenary. You shouldn't let anything get the drop on you. Your dad bade me look after you, and I would fail my duty if you were to die while on a mission."

_'I don't like where this is going.'_

"So I'm increasing your training regimen."

"What! You can't do that! I won't mess up again, I promise!"

"Sorry Naruto, this is for your own good. Now, onto another important matter," here Kakashi's voice became grave. "Talks with the Leaf Village have been going well, but something is troubling me. Something has changed in the Leaf as of late, and all of their people are on edge. To make things even more interesting, the Hokage is coming to meet with me personally."

"What?" Naruto asked in shock. The Hokage was the leader of the Leaf Village, and he never gave missions to mercenaries, it was always one of his representatives.

"I don't know, but I want you to be on your guard, just in case."

"Will do," Naruto said, nodding. _'This is strange indeed.'_

"Alright, you're dismissed," Kakashi sighed, turning back to his paperwork.

Naruto left him to his work, taking a deep breath of the forest air as he gazed upon the beautiful blue sky, marred only by a couple light-colored clouds. He always loved the smell of the forest, especially around the Land of Fire. But something felt different now, after his talk with Kakashi. He felt anxious inside, like one would on the eve of a storm.

"Something's about to happen, that's for sure," he said grimly.

**And that's a wrap! So, what do you guys think? Like it, love it, hate it? I hope you guys enjoy the differences between this world and Canon Naruto, I feel it's refreshing, but that's my own biased opinion. This was pretty fun to write, and I like the direction I'm going, but I won't continue this unless you guys want me to. The Rise of a God is still my primary focus right now. Until next time!**


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